Posted on 02/04/2012 5:33:56 PM PST by naturalman1975
Prince William took to the skies over the Falkland Islands today on his first sortie as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot.
William arrived on the archipelago this week amid escalating tensions between Britain and Argentina over the disputed region.
The pilot prince has been branded a 'pirate prince' by protestors - but William would have been concentrating on closer-to-hand issues as he prepared for his first exercise.
Today's images also show the 29-year-old prince consulting maps with a colleague in a squadron operations room.
William, who in the RAF is called Flt Lt Wales, will provide search and rescue cover for both the civilian and military population.
His role is to operate as a Sea King co-pilot, a post he has held at RAF Valley in Anglesey since qualifying.
The Duke's first shift involved briefings on the unique and challenging flying environment of the Falkland Islands and familiarisation with the location and the job he is to perform.
Squadron Leader Miles Bartlett, said: 'A posting to operations in the Falklands is a vital part of the career progression for a Search and Rescue pilot.
'The experience they get here is second to none.
'It is a challenging and varied job providing an essential capability to the military and the Falkland Islands population.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Way to go, Wills.
Looks like it could be symbolic in another way - a show of British power and authority over its own terrority that is supposedly ‘disputed’ simply because Argentina says so.
It is not in reality disputed. It has been part of the UK for centuries, and was never really controlled by Argentina - Argentina sent a garrison that was there briefly in 1832. Different European powers skirmished over them (and the US once in a minor event in 1831), and finally Britain became the dominant force and has controlled them since 1833. They were uninhabited until European explorers found them.
Clearly, the belong to Britain, so all of these discussions of needing “talks” to discuss the dispute are nonsense - there is no dispute other than Argentina simply stating out of the blue (now twice) that the islands ‘really’ belong to them. The people on the island overwhelmingly want to remain part of Britain, and Argentina started a war with Britain in the 1980s that they lost. End of ‘dispute.’
He is cut from a different cloth than his numbnuts old man.
Thank you for posting this.
Harry too, and then some.
A nice two-fingered salute to the Argentine junta. :-)
Of course you must know his father to make that assessment.
No? You are relying on newspaper accounts?
The Prince of Wales is very little like the caricature painted of him in the press - a caricature painted largely because the left wing media enjoys trying to make any conservative person look like a fool.
He served his country in the military - as a helicopter pilot as it happens - and he's spent the rest of his life serving it in other ways. He's a good and decent man, even if I think he's a bit over the top on one issue - that of environmentalism. But even that exaggerated a lot partly because constitutionally he's limited in his ability to speak on any issue he disagrees with Her Majesty's Government on, which meant for much of the last two decades, he wound up making a lot of speeches on just about the only issue he did agree with them on.
That is only half his ancestry. The Spencers were the other side of the tree, a much tougher lot. Jack Spencer, the 7th earl, was an army captain in WWI.
It’s the German blood in them!
Yes, he’s got his grandma’s courage.
Shouldn’t he be Flt. Lt. Windsor?
If Argentina were to invade the Falklands again, I doubt that England could do anything about it, but then again, Argentina is probably not capable of mounting such an operation again.
No. Strictly speaking, he doesn't have a surname. When one is required, Mounbatten-Windsor is supposed to be used. But within the military, those who hold noble title have fairly often used the title as a surname throughout British history, and this remains the practice for members of the royal family. At the time he entered the military, he was HRH Prince William of Wales, and so he used Wales as his surname. Arguably, he could now change it to Cambridge (as he became HRH The Duke of Cambridge last year when he married) but he has elected to continue using Wales.
If Argentina were to invade the Falklands again, I doubt that England could do anything about it, but then again, Argentina is probably not capable of mounting such an operation again.
A new Argentinian invasion would be unlikely to succeed. The garrison on the island is now over 1000 strong and long enough runways exist that reinforcements could be flown in directly from the UK if needed. Modern attack aircraft based on the islands could also probably destroy any invasion fleet. In 1982, the islands were defended by only about 50 Marines, a hundred or so reservists of the Falkland Islands Defence Force, and a handful of Naval officers from a survey ship, and the runways could only support fairly light aircraft so rapid reinforcement was impossible. There is always at least one capable warship in the area as well.
No. Strictly speaking, he doesn't have a surname. When one is required, Mountbatten-Windsor is supposed to be used. But within the military, those who hold noble title have fairly often used the title as a surname throughout British history, and this remains the practice for members of the royal family. At the time he entered the military, he was HRH Prince William of Wales, and so he used Wales as his surname. Arguably, he could now change it to Cambridge (as he became HRH The Duke of Cambridge last year when he married) but he has elected to continue using Wales.
If Argentina were to invade the Falklands again, I doubt that England could do anything about it, but then again, Argentina is probably not capable of mounting such an operation again.
A new Argentinian invasion would be unlikely to succeed. The garrison on the island is now over 1000 strong and long enough runways exist that reinforcements could be flown in directly from the UK if needed. Modern attack aircraft based on the islands could also probably destroy any invasion fleet. In 1982, the islands were defended by only about 50 Marines, a hundred or so reservists of the Falkland Islands Defence Force, and a handful of Naval officers from a survey ship, and the runways could only support fairly light aircraft so rapid reinforcement was impossible. There is always at least one capable warship in the area as well.
I remember when Prince Charles’ ship docked in Pensacola. I later read that he and some of his mates had visited “Trader Jon’s”, a local dive which is much more famous than it deserved.
I don’t know how good of an idea it is, but an honorable, self-sacrificing, heroic royal who puts country (kingdom?) above himself is the best way to preserve the monarchy.
I love Argentinian people, but their corrupt A-HOLE government MINED the Falklands. (And has systematically stolen from their people).
They basically ruined major portions of the islands.
I’ve been there, and seen it. The Brits who actually live there are lovely. (The penguins are cool, too.)
The Argies (gov’t) can go blow. If they want to re-enter the first world, let them clean up the mess they made.
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